Demography of Health and Aging - Sarah Petry
Characterizing Intersectional Medicaid Risk Factors in Late Life
Date: 10/06/2022 (Thu)
Time: 3:30pm- 5:00pm
Location: Seminar will be held on-site: Gross Hall 270
Organizer: Scott Lynch
Meeting Schedule: (Not currently open for scheduling. Please contact the seminar organizer listed above.)
All meetings will be held in the same location as the seminar unless otherwise noted.
3:30pm - Seminar Presentation (3:30pm to 5:00pm)
Additional Comments: Medicaid coverage provides an essential health safety net for people living in poverty or who become poor, particularly due to high health care needs and costs. Many adults over 65 will need Medicaid to cover health and long-term care costs, yet how older adults become at risk of Medicaid enrollment is unclear. Employing an intersectional, life course approach, I use data from 10 waves of the Health and Retirement Survey to assess hypothesized risk factors to Medicaid enrollment in later life. I determine that individuals who have experienced health events requiring a skilled nursing facility (SNF) stay are at greater risk of Medicaid enrollment over a two-year period. Enrollment risk, though, is distinctly racialized and gendered: Black and Hispanic individuals are more likely to enroll than whites, women are at a greater risk than men, and women of color are at the highest risk. These findings have consequences for Medicaid policy and for older adults, both in and out of institutional care settings.